"You oughta be."
They continued to bicker, Ethan continued the varnish. Tuning them out,
concentrating on the job at hand, he locked his unhappiness away.
Chapter Seventeen
it was going to be perfect. It was so obviously right, Grace wondered
that she hadn't thought of it before. A sunset sail on calm seas with
skies going pink and gold in the west was a custom-made backdrop for
both of them. The Bay was part of their lives, what it offered and what
it took.
She knew it was more than a place where Ethan worked. It was a place he
loved.
It had been easy to arrange. All she'd had to do was ask. He looked
surprised, then he smiled. "I'd forgotten you love to sail," he said.
She was touched when he'd simply expected that Aubrey would come with
them. There would be other times, she thought. A lifetime for the three
of them. But this warm and breezy evening would be for the two of them
only.
Giddy laughter continued to rise up in her as she imagined his reaction
when she asked him to marry her. She could see it so clearly, the way he
would stop, stare at her with surprise in those wonderful blue eyes. She
would smile, hold out her hand to him as they glided along with soft
wind and dark water. And she would tell him everything that was in her
heart.
/ love you so much, Ethan. I always have and always will. Will you marry
me? I want us to be a family. I want to live my life with you. To give
you children. To make you happy. Haven't we waited long enough?
Then, she knew, that would be the moment his smile would begin. That
slow, beautiful smile that moved degree by degree over the planes and
shadows of his face, into his eyes. He would probably say something
about how he'd intended to ask her. That he'd been getting to it.
They would both laugh, and they would hold each other as the sun dropped
red beyond the shore. And their lives together would really begin.
"Where are you sailing off to, Grace?"
She blinked, saw Ethan smiling back at her from the wheel.
"Daydreaming," she told him, chuckling at herself. "Sunset's the best
time for daydreams. It's so peaceful."
She rose, nestled herself under his arm. "I'm so glad you can take a few
hours off so we can do this."
"We're going to have the boat trimmed out within the month." He nuzzled
his face in her hair. "Couple weeks ahead of schedule."
"You've all worked so hard."
"It's going to be worth it. The owner was here today."
"Oh?" This was part of it, too, she mused. The easy talk about their
days. "What did he say?"
"Hardly shut up, so it's hard to know what he said half the time.
Spouted off the latest this and that he'd read in his boating magazines,
asked enough questions to make your head ring."
"But did he like it?"